


Anthology of a Kiss

by juggyjones



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, archie is in love with ronnie but doesn't do anything about it, implied bughead, pining au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-07
Updated: 2017-03-07
Packaged: 2018-09-30 15:19:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,937
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10165820
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/juggyjones/pseuds/juggyjones
Summary: Five times Archie and Veronica didn’t kiss, and the one time they did.





	

i.

Everything begins when they’re seventeen. She’s all raven haired brutal honesty and witty comebacks, and he’s redheaded and hot, confused more than anything else.

They’re friends, but he messes up. He messed up, badly.

His fingers rest on her cheek, trailing over the smooth skin as if it were silk. Her eyes are closed and lips parted ever so slightly, taking in long, deep breaths as if she were soaking up her presence. She smells like some expensive perfume and only a touch of the earth’s scent; grounding him.

She’s fragile beneath her fingertips; a masterpiece he’s not worthy of touching. Yet she allows him, fluttering underneath his touch. He smiles at her because she looks like Snow White and only belongs to him. When his lips touch her forehead she releases a soft breath, warm again the tense skin on his neck.

But that’s not what happens. 

His fingers brushes against hers when they sit together for lunch, talking about music. Her hand doesn’t linger on his after everyone leaves, and there is no affectionate gaze in the dark eyes. She waves him goodbye instead of a kiss, and he remains sitting there, lost in his imagination and fantasies.

That time, he lets her walk away. He makes a promise to make it last - a promise he breaks, continuously, four more times.

ii.

She’s broken, crying on his bed after having her heart broken. It’s the first time she allows him to see her upset; with dark mascara smeared across her face and lipstick stained from the very last makeup session she is going to have with Reggie, there is nothing shielding her from him.

He appreciates it. He takes her hands in his, sits beside her as she tells him everything, and holds her in his arms when she breaks. 

It hurts. Something is tugging at his chest, the need to put her to sleep and watch her until she wakes up; to make her breakfast in bed and cater to her until she is well enough to appear before the world. To watch Reggie’s face crumble into pieces after he punches him, doing the only thing that is right.

She trembles in his arms until she doesn’t anymore. They are nineteen and it’s their last summer together, and they never thought they’d spend it like this. The moon is up and his father is asleep and he should go to sleep, too, but he can only admire the way her pale skin glistens in the white of the moonlight.

So he puts her in his bed and lies in the chair next to it, eyes open until he’s made sure her breathing is steady and her face is clean. 

When he wakes up, he finds her smiling at him and that same something tugs at his chest again. She thanks him and he pulls her into a hug, inhaling the earthly scent and feels grounded again. 

He doesn’t feel like he is ever going to let her go. But they part and he does, watching her leave his house with a smile on her face, but purple underneath her eyes. 

He lets her go, again.

iii.

For Christmas, they were supposed to be happy. But her father was sentenced to two decades in jail, her mother is somewhere away and she is alone, with only him to make her company.

She doesn’t cry this time. They get drunk, even though they’re still just nineteen, and his father doesn’t seem to matter. When Betty and Jughead come over, the four of them get drunk even more and in an incredible game of truth or dare, the redhead and the raven haired girl end up in the closet again.

He thinks about kissing her; he’s dreamt of it one too many times. He can almost feel his fingers caressing her cheek and his lips whispering sweet nothings into her ear until she feels loved like never before. His arms holding her steady when she stumbled over her words, over her promises and when she needs someone to hold onto.

He can picture them latching their fingers together walking down the street, and lips dancing before they go to sleep every night. Her fingers tangled in his hair and a smile on her lips, because he could love her like no one else could. 

And he thinks about doing it, but he doesn’t. Because he’s drunk and in love and she’s drunk and in pain and it wouldn’t be fair to put her in a situation like that, not when that’s the one thing he swore to himself never to do.

So instead of holding her and kissing her, he holds her and talks to her until she isn’t scared and lost anymore, and yet again she falls asleep in his arms. He thinks if he’s her safe space just like she is to him, but doesn’t question it anymore.

He makes sure she’s safe and sound before he sleeps on the couch, and when he wakes up in the morning, there is egg and bacon waiting for all four of them. She’s smiling at him and mouths a thank you, receiving a hug in response.

That’s when he lets her go the third time, but she’s still here. They’re holding onto something.

iv. 

Things get difficult when he’s rejected from a label, leaving him with little to no money. His father lost his company and they’re drowning in debts, neither of them able to pay off the debts. It’s a miserable time for both of them and when she comes with a bottle of Jack Daniels and Coke, even though they’re twenty, his father leaves the two without a word.

He rambles about the industry and unfairness of the world and she rambles about her newest boyfriend and there it is again, the need to cup her face and kiss her senseless because the bastard wasn’t treating her right.

And somehow his problems are shaded away because his muse is the one bothered by boys who think they’re men and he wishes she would understand. He thinks about telling her the truth but he can’t, so he takes the guitar and sings a song he wrote for her when they were still teenagers.

He watches her watch him and he thinks he’s never seen someone more beautiful. It’s not just lust anymore, not just desire like when they were younger; he can see that he’s just not ready for anything serious, let alone with someone who means so much to him.

He looks her straight in the eye as he sings to a girl she doesn’t know it’s really her, but he knows and that’s what really matters. This time, he’s letting her go because he understands that that is what needs to be done. Not what he wants, but what he needs. 

What they both need. He knows she’s it for him, but he thinks she doesn’t have to settle for someone like him so early. He wants her to have options. The only thing that is important is that he doesn’t stay out of her life, at any point. 

So he lets her go. And for the first time, he’s okay with it.

v. 

It’s the fifth anniversary of Jason Blossom’s disappearance and the entire town is holding a rally. He sees Betty and Jughead and his mind flies back to her, who’s still in New York because dealing with something so insignificant as this anniversary is nothing compared to the chaos she had at home.

So he joins the pair and they talk, despite the gloomy atmosphere, talk about the days when things were simpler, when they weren’t scattered across the country for colleges and when they’d spend days and nights together.

And she appears out of nowhere, hugging them all but him last and longest and he feels grounded for the first time in months. For the longest time he’s thought he was the one she came to in times of need and he was, but it was nothing compared to the sense of need of her he left at times. She was, more than everything, his anchor and letting her go was the stupidest decision he’s ever made.

When he lets go of her he can see that she’s gotten paler over the summer, with the blue and purple underneath her eyes that she’s stopped trying to hide. Her entire life for the past few months has been a game of truth and lies for everyone and she’s the only one who bared it all.

He wishes he could kiss her softly, on the lips, resting their foreheads together in the middle of the crowd. He wants to show her he thinks it’s okay, what she’s going through, and that she’s being extremely brave and he’s there for her. 

Instead he held her hand, fingers laced together in a soothing manner, because they are both dealing with more crap than either can take. And he can see Jughead watching from some distance, questions in his eyes, to what he answers with a shake of head.

His fingers tighten around hers and he pulls her into a hug, whispering only comfort he could think of in the moment. He tells her the truth, that she’s strong and brave and it doesn’t matter what the world thinks of her, because he knows. 

And when a single tear drops slides down her cheek, he knows that she knows, too. But when the day comes to a conclusion so do they, with each turning back to their own problems, miles from one another.

So he lets her go again, because he knows there’s nothing he can do to keep her.

vi.

They’re twenty four and Kevin’s getting married and they’re all supposed to be there, but she doesn’t come and they haven’t talked in weeks. It’s Betty who tells him she’s had a nervous breakdown because shit has gone even worse, with her mother getting arrested as well and her entire fortune hanging in the air, and her most recent boyfriend, the one he even liked, was a lying snake.

So he says his goodbyes to Kevin, leaves Betty and Jughead there because they came together and she’s his Maid of Honor, and sets for New York. There’s not a penny to his name and even less food or clothes in the trunk, but his friends understand and he doesn’t doubt it for a second.

So when after hours of driving without a stop he arrives at her doorstep, when she opens her door he hesitates for only a heartbeat. Her face looks beaten down and she looks like she’s taken upon herself all the weight of the world, but she’s still as out of this world as he always pictures her, as she ever has been.

Before she can say anything, he cups her face and plants a soft kiss on her lips. His fingers caress her cheeks and he feels her relax into it, before he pulls into the tightest hug. And he doesn’t whisper sweet nothings into her ear, he doesn’t say anything at all because there are no words needed.

He knows and she knows, too. So only when they part he says the words he’s said a lot of times, but never with so much emotion, never like this. 

And he waited. He’s waited for seven years for this moment and when it comes and ends he doesn’t know what happens next, but he knows no matter what, he’s not letting her go.

Not this time. Not ever again.

**Author's Note:**

> this was written for a request on tumblr, @riverdalefiction and you can send some, too, if you want.


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